Finally processed the pictures taken from my Krabi and Phuket trip organized by Seetho Holidays some three months ago. Here are some of what I saw through the lens from that 5-day vacation that seems to have happened so long ago.

Krabi beach in reflection

The reflection on Andy the photographer’s sunglasses. The crystal clear water and soft sandy beaches of Krabi is now as much an optical plaything on the lens as they are in my memory. Welcome back to reality 1.0

want a BBQ corn you corny tourists?

There are stalls on the beaches along areas most popular with tourists. The more imaginative locals sell handy crafts, fabrics, cloths, and accessories, while some stick to the simpler offerings such as this one.

Giant of Krabi town

There’s a legend at Krabi about these gentle giants from the surrounding jungle. So far as I know, they only exists at a junction downtown tirelessly carrying the traffic lights these days. I guess they were supposed to be docile cousins of Yeti and Bigfoot.

Am I sweet or do I just look pretty?

The afternoon market at Krabi offers many different types of food, you can find BBQ fish, fresh fruits, juice, roasted chicken wings, and all sorts of other traditional dishes. This colorful plate of candy captured my attention most.

where do you want to go today?

Traditional fishing is very much alive in this part of the world, with custom made propeller shafts and colorfully painted wooden boats floating on crystal clear water. This photo was captured on the last bridge we crossed on the way to Phuket.

the Royal fish farm at Krabi

The Royal fish farm is an attempt in marine conservation, there are many species of salt water fishes from reef sharks, angel fish, to Nemo. I almost felt guilty by thinking how great most of them would taste after a short trip to the kitchen.

the hot spring waterfall

A small waterfall at the end of Klong Thom hot spring where we soaked ourselves in the mineral rich water. The hot stream joins a cold river after the waterfall, you can actually jump between the two completely different water. The hot spring reminds me of the onsen experience in Japan, if only we could do something about the tropical weather…

bustling nightlife at Phuket

The bustling night life at Phuket reminds me of Bangkok’s red light district. Go-go bars, foreign tourists, peddlers, discos, t-shirt stalls, and plenty of alcohol serving joints. Patpong Patong never sleeps.

a frown and a smile

The street is also populated by many female lookalike beings selling their companionship or peddling for the particular go-go bar they represent. As with anywhere else in Thailand, gender confusion is paramount here.

Fly boy assisted

When the sun rises, Phuket returns to a sort of normalcy expected from any beach vacation spot. Para sailing, jet skiing, and banana boat tours are all available. Kids who slept through the sin city’s night time activities get to do what their parents promised them.

look ma, a shell in my bucket!

Can’t wait to go on another trip.

Tags:  krabi,  Photography,  phuket,  seetho,  Thailand,  tour

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

In the third day of our South Thailand trip last month, we went to the other side of South Thailand, some 3 hours drive to the east, from the coast of Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand. On the way, we stopped by the royal fish farm, visited a traditional soap factory and a fabric factory where mangonsteen is used for the smell in soap, and color in the dying process. We also went to Wat Phra Mahathat Woromaha Vihan for a bit and hung out at the silver street of Nakhon Si Thammarat town.

seafood restaurant on stilts

Anyway, you can read Kim here and here for a slightly more detailed report on the trip itself. As for me, I just want to tell you about one of the best seafood dinners I’ve had, thanks to SeeTho’s good taste and willingness to travel far for the best dining experience.

We arrived at this seafood place that is tucked at the end of 4177, a fishing village more familiar with the locals instead of tourists. The name of the restaurant written only in Thai, I can’t tell you what it says, but we went to the middle of the three restaurants at the area.

cheap oysters and really fat clams

Leading to the restaurant is a little market specializing in all sorts of fresh and preserved seafood. There were some huge salted fish, live crabs, fresh prawns, and plenty of cheap live oysters for sale. I don’t know where could you find live oysters for as low as 5 baht each! The really huge ones were only around 20-25 baht ( RM 2.00 to RM 2.50), very tempting.

vegetable, grilled fish, crab, and grilled big prawns

Ordering was left to SeeTho since there’s this little problem of language incompatibilities between the servers and diners. We had seven dishes and some rice to wash everything down. Baked oysters, tomyam seafood, petai, mixed vegetable, grilled fish, Thai style crab, and of course, some huge grilled prawns.

tomyam seafood, petai balacan, and baked oyster

Baked oyster was chosen instead of having them raw for a very good reason, you don’t want to have an upset stomach during a trip where long journey in a van is involved. The oysters were really good though, lightly baked, very fresh and very juicy inside. They were eaten with a combination of sauce and herbs I can’t really name, it was the perfect way to start the meal.

I also really enjoy the petai and the huge prawns. The tomyam, crab, and mixed vegetable didn’t disappoint either. The grilled fish, however, looked really ordinary but turned out to be really smooth with a very soft texture and really sweet taste.

Needless to say, we ended up overfed again. Seafood with that unique Thai style preparation is a winner if you ask me. If you are going to Ko Samui, Surat Thani is actually pretty close by, try to get yourself to this place, you won’t be disappointed. Alternatively, of course, you can always go with SeeTho travels and request to have this seafood meal included.

If I remember correctly, the meal for 8 of us was slightly less than RM 200.

GPS: 9.31031, 99.47774

Tags:  krabi,  Photography,  seafood,  seetho,  surat thani,  Thailand,  Travel

Posted by KY | 17 Comments »

Well well, finally here’s the first post for the FAM trip to Krabi, and yes, it is going to be a food entry. The trip was sponsored by SeeTho Holidays and organized by Nicole, thanks thanks!

The trip went much much better than I had expected, and the hospitality of Mr. See Tho himself was really overwhelming. Despite having 3 offices in South Thailand to run (Krabi, Phuket, and Hatyai), See Tho actually spent time with us pretty much the entire trip. His funny stories and friendly smiles will be missed. He also made sure we had the best foods during the trip, which is just mighty fine for someone like me. Look no further if you are planning a holiday to South Thailand.

a classic dish, Thai style duck noodle soup

It was just after noon when we touched down at Krabi airport, we were greeted with fresh flowers around our neck. First agenda of the trip was lunch, we were very eager since none of us ordered anything from Air Asia’s in-flight kopitiam service.

We reached this curious little place after some 20-30 minutes drive from the airport. See Tho introduced it as the “raining duck noodle place” as they constantly have water showering from the roof (for cooling purposes). The restaurant is built on stilts over a small lake, very old school.

the restaurant is built on a small lake

We ordered duck noodle soup for each of us, and patiently waits while sipping some bottled green Fanta that I haven’t drank since before puberty. Food did take a while to be served as it was a pretty busy afternoon, but boy it was worth the wait.

two drum sticks with some flat noodle

The duck noodle soup came with two duck drumstick, flat noodle (hor fun), bean sprouts and some spring onion on top. The soup is darkish and reminds me of koay chap I had in Penang, only this one was better. Despite drumstick being dark meat, it was really tender and required almost no effort to peel off from the bone. They must have stewed it with some herbs, the taste was superb especially with a bit of chili powder. I emptied my bowl with great satisfaction.

Mr. See Tho himself, and Kim enjoying the noodle

Since Krabi is still relatively underdeveloped and not overly commercialized as a tourist destination, each bowl only costs around 40 baht (RM 4), a very good deal don’t you think?

If you think this is great, the food only gets better and better along the trip, stay tuned!

GPS: 8.10854, 98.90387

Tags:  duck,  kimberly,  krabi,  nicole,  seetho,  Thailand

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »